ALERT faces short-haul dilemma

The Daily Inter Lake

A Canadian helicopter was called in July 25 to rescue a 15-year-old Whitefish girl off a Glacier National Park peak due to U.S. regulations that pose a Catch-22 for the ALERT helicopter using its short-haul rescue capability.

Jim Oliverson, spokesman for Kalispell Regional Medical Center, said Glacier Park didn't call ALERT to perform the rescue that involved dangling Stella Holt in a chair for a short haul off Mount Gould to a waiting ground ambulance.

Holt had broken her leg during a climb on Mount Gould and was stranded on a cliff ledge high above Going-to-the-Sun Road.

According to Neil Heino, hospital emergency services manager, the park began calling the Canadian service after the Federal Aviation Administration informed ALERT that its operating certificate requires a two-engine helicopter to train for short hauls - although ALERT could perform such rescues.

For more of this story, see the print edition of Monday's Inter Lake.